tsh – BJJ Caveman

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Cholesterol Part 5

Posted on October 13, 2013October 9, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

As you know, the past couple of months have been a bit of a whirlwind. During this time I wasn’t trying too hard to eat low carb… unlike the militant way I was counting carbs during my initial n=1 experiment. I know there were a some weeks when I was definitely eating very low carb and spent at least a few of those days in ketosis (I hadn’t been testing my blood ketones these past few months), and there were other days when my carb intake increased due to social situations as well as my desire to avoid the keto-rash: prurigo pigmentosa.… Read More

Low Carb and High Cholesterol from Around the Web

Posted on July 31, 2013July 30, 2017 by BJJ Caveman

Great article by Mark Sisson of Mark’s Daily Apple, a blog I follow daily, discussing potential reasons for elevated LDL in people who eat Primal (a paleo low carb variation). Potential explanations include:

Weight Loss
Micronutrient deficiency
Grazing all day
Activity levels that don’t match carb intake
Not moving frequently at a slow pace
Not lifting heavy things

An interesting point is his description of the role iodine and thyroid hormone plays in the expression of LDL receptors and subsequently LDL-C which pretty much is in line with everything I’ve been reading about.… Read More

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Cholesterol Part 4

Posted on June 23, 2013February 18, 2015 by BJJ Caveman

After more than 30 days of increasing my carb intake it looks like my cholesterol numbers have all improved. At this point I haven’t bothered to check my blood ketones because I know that I’m out of ketosis. I’ve been trying to keep my carb intake to around 100 gm per day. Sometimes I go over and sometimes I go under, but on average it’s around 100 gm.

When I last left off in Part 3, I was still trying to piece together the possible causes for my sky high cholesterols despite being in ketosis. … Read More

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Thyroid Hormone Part 2

Posted on June 15, 2013October 9, 2014 by BJJ Caveman

In light of the recent discoveries during my n=1 experiment with nutritional ketosis regarding my cholesterol (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), thyroid hormone (Part 1), and skin rash, I decided to take a break from nutritional ketosis to see what would happen.

We’ve already seen that the addition of carbs back into my diet made my rash go away (it’s been a few months out and still no rash, yay!).

I took another blood test to see if my thyroid hormone levels would change. … Read More

The Effect of a Ketogenic Diet on Thyroid Hormone

Posted on April 28, 2013March 29, 2016 by BJJ Caveman

During my most recent cholesterol blood work, I also checked my thyroid hormone levels in an effort to figure out why my cholesterol has gotten so high while I’ve been in nutritional ketosis.

One of the possible explanations was that:

Chronic low carb -> Hypothyroidism (low T3) -> Decreased expression of LDL receptors in the liver -> Higher serum cholesterol

Background – Here is an oversimplified explanation of thyroid physiology

Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) – This is the hormone your brain sends out telling your thyroid gland to produce more thyroid hormone.